


Betrothed

by Erratus



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Arranged Marriage, F/M, Fluff, Light-Hearted, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-20
Updated: 2019-03-20
Packaged: 2019-11-26 13:16:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18181100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Erratus/pseuds/Erratus
Summary: Rayla learns of the human tradition of arranged marriages. She is very displeased.





	Betrothed

**Author's Note:**

> First fic for this fandom. It's been a looooong time since I wrote anything. Made this small piece to get back in the groove, but I have several other ideas brewing. Wrote it today and only went over it once, so it might have typos.

Ezran was fast asleep by the fire with both Bait and Zym snuggled against him. He really was good with animals, Rayla mused. But her interest didn’t stay with him. It quickly moved to the other prince. Callum was still awake. He had climbed on a large rock to get a better view of the night sky over the shrubbery. It was a rather clumsy climb, but Rayla couldn’t expect much better from him. It was cute.

He was cute. Watching him made her want to jump onto the rock first, to show off her skills. To get that look of awe in his eyes. A quick tease and she would help pull him up and then they would share a kiss. That was the fantasy that forced its way into her mind as she watched his awkward climb. She couldn’t really deny it anymore, she liked him. She poked the fire with a stick, pondering her next steps. He probably didn’t like her. He’s a human prince from an enemy nation, she tried to kill him. It just wouldn’t work.

Although he did want peace between their worlds, and wasn’t at all stuck up for being royalty, and had completely forgiven her for all assassination attempts, attempted and successful. Like the sweet, dumb human he was, only wanting peace and love and putting everyone else ahead of himself. And that stupid sweet smile he gets when he helps someone. The way he looks at her like she is the best thing he’s ever seen when she does simple acrobatics. That time he gave her a comforting hug and she could feel his warmth fill her.

Yeah, she needed to do something about this crush. Getting up, she left the warmth of the fire and casually walked towards the rocks Callum currently rested on. How would she do this? She wasn’t planning on any sappy love confessions. No, that would be a little bit much. Rather, she was just going to feel things out a bit.

She used a single, well-placed hand to propelled herself next to Callum. The movement was fluid and graceful. She was rewarded with that look of amazement that she had come to love.

“How do you do that?”

“With training,” she replied. A lifetime of physical workouts to build muscles and careful instruction to train the mind. Not something that can be conveyed in a single sentence. She basked as he looked at her with admiration, those green eyes twinkling under the moonlight. She could show him all kinds of things that she could do, if he would let her.

He went back to looking at the night sky. His sketchbook was forgotten beside him. What was he thinking about? No, she had her own mission right now. She needed to get a feel for his feelings.

“Thinking about your girlfriend, Claudia,” Rayla teased. She did a good job hiding all the negative emotions with that line. The idea of Callum with another woman made her grit her teeth. The idea of Callum with a dark mage, corrupting him and his sweet, kind soul made her want to drag him to Xadia and never let him leave. But she didn’t let it show. Instead it left her lips as a playful tease.

“Huh? Oh, no, we’re not like that,” Callum blushed. Cute. Rayla wondered how hard she could get him to blush.

“But you want to be?” She tried to say it casually, but she might have let some tension show. She really hated Claudia. He shifted uncomfortably. She just stared, maybe a bit too intensely.

“I don’t know,” he looked down. Rayla bit back a smile. Did some good sense get through his thick skull? “She is pretty, and smart, and kind.” Rayla was about to object to that last one. Pretty? Yeah, as much as it pained her she couldn’t disagree there. Smart? You have to be smart of know all the ways to kill innocent creatures for your own power. But kind? No, she was not ‘kind’.

“Well, I guess she’s nice when she wants to be.” He brought his knees to his chest and she suddenly felt bad for bringing it up. She wondered if she could hug him. Would that be an odd thing for a friend to do right now? “Maybe I didn’t know her as well as I thought,” he almost whispered it and she decided to go in for that hug. She shifted next to him so that their shoulders touched and she wrapped an arm around him. Callum leaned into her side and that shared warmth returned. She fought back a sigh. Her stupid human didn’t deserve that kind of betrayal. Yeah, he should have known better from a dark mage, but just because he is too trusting doesn’t mean he should suffer.

“Sorry, I guess this is a bit soon to talk about it,” Rayla admitted. Maybe she wasn’t doing a great job of feeling things out.

“No, it’s nice to talk about it. I just… I don’t know what to think about it. We grew up together. Soren taught me how to swordfight. Well, he tried anyway. And Claudia would watch and cheer me on. And she would show me cool magic spells and…” He trailed off. Rayla was suddenly more understanding. She was always told about how evil dark magic is. But of course human Callum was only told that dark magic is ‘cool’. And maybe Claudia was closer to him than she thought. Rayla pressed on with her mission though.

“So I guess you two aren’t going to be married any time soon,” she chuckled drily. It hurt to see Callum’s pain, but at least he seemed to get the idea about Claudia.

“No”, Callum gave his own dry laugh. Rayla let a smile appear. Maybe there was hope for them. Rayla never let go of the hug. Instead, she tightened her hold. His warmth was pooling inside her and she could feel his chest move with his breaths. Claudia was out of the picture and Rayla felt empowered. She thought about her next move. She could ask about what kind of women he would want to marry. She could tease about who his next girlfriend could be. Or she could pin him and show him just who should be next. These thoughts came to crashing halt with his next line.

“Besides, I’m probably going to marry Kinlin.” Wait what? Who the hell is this Kinlin? She separated from him instantly, causing him to lose his balance and sway.

“Er, who’s that?” She tried not to let her emotions show. She knew she was doing a bad job with that.

“Oh, I guess I never mentioned her,” Callum shifted uncomfortably but Rayla couldn’t bring herself to lighten her glare. “She’s the daughter of the chief advisor to Ahling…” Rayla’s glare didn’t falter. “He’s the king of Neolandia… Her name is Kinlin…” Callum was getting visibly unnerved by her glare but clearly had no idea what she wanted.

“Okay…” Rayla dragged out the ‘o’. “And you are going to marry her even though you’ve been pining after Claudia?” Rayla never thought that Callum was a two-timer. She still couldn’t see it. She could have sworn that ‘marry’ was the human word for coupling. Maybe she was using it wrong?

“Well, we won't get married until she's of age, so I still have a few years. We're allowed to do some pining before that. I only met Kinlin twice, and one of those times I was just a little kid. We were betrothed when I was seven. I guess her dad really pushed for it and Opeli thought it would be a good idea.” Okay, Rayla was utterly lost. He was throwing out names and human words that she didn’t recognize.

“Explain to me what this ‘betrothed’ is,” she demanded.

“Oh, do you not do that in Xadia?” Her unamused glare was enough of an answer. “Well, there’s five human Kingdoms, and we sometimes fight. But fighting isn’t good for anyone, so we’ll try to make peace. And one way to we do this is by arranging marriages. So an important person from one kingdom will marry an important person from another kingdom. That way the first kingdom will have family there, and the two kingdoms will be closer.

“Well, Neolandia wants to have a better relationship with Katolis because they sometimes don’t have enough resources. So when I was seven our kingdoms agreed that I would marry Kinlin,” Callum finished his explanation. Rayla stared with a dumbfounded look.

“So… humans marry off kids to other kids they never met?”

“Um, yeah, I guess. It’s part of being nobility.” Rayla’s confused look switched to anger instantly.

“What is wrong with humans! And you are okay with this? Coupling with some girl you don’t even know? What if you do not like her?” Rayla yelled. Across the camp Ezran rolled over, trying to ignore the fight. Not that either really noticed or cared. Callum was taken aback by Rayla’s sudden anger and was entirely focused on her.

“Uh, yeah, I’m okay with it. She seemed nice. This is just part of the job.” Rayla processed this a bit more. At least when he was interested in Claudia, it was his choice. How can he be okay with coupling with some random girl? “Well, I guess this means that they don’t do arranged marriages in Xadia” Callum added, amused.

“Uh, no, we don’t force kids to marry each other” She was still at a loss of words to explain just how wrong this was.

“We don’t get married as kids. We get betrothed, which is when we agree to get married. We wait until we are of age to actually get married. We are waiting for me to turn 18 and her 16,” he tried to lighten the mood. There was no lightening the mood. No, Rayla was having exactly none of this.

“Oh, never mind, that’s perfectly okay then,” she said, voice thick with sarcasm.

“And I’m not exactly forced. If we really didn’t like each other, we could decide not to get married” Rayla’s mood let up a bit. Humans can be pretty disgusting but at least Callum won’t have to marry this girl.

“Oh, good, do that then.”

“Ah, well, I don’t mind her. I don’t think she dislikes me either, though I haven’t seen her since I was Ezran’s age.” He muttered the last part. Rayla’s spark of a good mood died. “As I said, it’s part of being a prince. I can’t just call it off over nothing. And besides, even if I did refuse to marry her, they would just betroth me to someone else.”

“So they won’t let you marry whoever you want?” Rayla deadpanned. “If you fell in love with a baker you wouldn’t be able to marry her?”

“No, it doesn’t really work like that. If I was someone else in court I might be able to choose from within court, or a high-ranking soldier like my mom was. But because I’m a prince but not in line for the throne, I’m valuable for alliances.” Rayla decided, then and there, that she had a new mission. She would escort all three of the princes into Xadia, and once Callum is there, she would never ever let him go back to his messed up human kingdom.

“I think this is about as bad as the dark magic thing”

“Hey, there’s no sacrificing of magical creatures” Callum defended.

“No, but there is sacrificing of the future love of children.” Rayla really didn’t get how Callum couldn’t understand. “Don’t you want to marry someone that you actually love?”

“You learn to love them. That’s what everyone says,” he said it softly, seemingly doubtful. Finally Rayla seemed to be getting through to him.

“No, you learn to accept it. You can’t learn to love someone. That’s stupid,” Rayla pressed on. “Love is when you want to be with someone every day. And you get excited whenever they look at it, and you just want to them happy,” She tried to explain what it means to love because apparently Callum was taught something all wrong. “It’s when you are happy no matter what, as long as you are together. And when you are apart, all you can think of it them,” she stared at his soft face and green eyes while trying to explain. Her chest fluttered and wanted to pull him close again. He laughed.

“Wow Rayla, I didn’t expect an assassin elf to be such a romantic,” Callum said between chuckles. All warm feelings rushed out of her. Maybe she wasn’t getting through to him.

“Ugh, I’m trying to make you realize how stupid this betrothing thing is.” She flopped onto her back, focusing on the night sky. Did humans really do that? And they were okay? Did they not love like elves love? She rubbed her arm, deflated. She should just let Callum be. If he doesn’t care about love, she shouldn’t bother loving him. Simple as that. The thought was too bitter for her. Because she is an elf, and she does know how to love. And damn the entire world, she loved Callum. But Callum doesn’t even seem to know what love is.

“You know, I really don’t mind. It helps keep the peace, and it’s not like I’m going to die,” he said softly. “Really, you don't have to worry about it,” he added. Apparently he managed to not pick up on why it bothered Rayla so much. A thought suddenly occurred to Rayla.

“So, if we stop the war, does that mean they’ll want you to marry an elf”, Rayla said teasingly. Though in her mind, it was victorious. Like she beat them at their own game. Callum seemed genuinely surprised by it.

“You’re right! Peace with Xadia would overshadow the deal with Neolandia. And I doubt they would want Ezran to marry a elf because then any heirs would be halflings. I might marry an elf,” his eyes almost glowed with the realization. Rayla smiled wide.

“So you wouldn’t mind it then? Marrying an elf?” It was a question on her mind. Did he even consider elves as options?

“Sure. A month ago I probably wouldn’t but I didn’t understand as much back the,” he looked at her. Her heart melted. She was the one who showed him that elves and humans can be together. She wanted to be with him right then and there.

“You know, they aren’t going to just give you an elf wife. An elf is going to have to actually fall in love with you.” An elf already has. Though she didn’t like the thought of Callum coupling with her just for politics. No, he would have to couple with her because he loved her too. “And you are going to have to actually love that elf back. No betrothing, actual love,” she added.

Callum just hummed in acknowledgement and grabbed his sketchbook. He flipped to a blank page and begun sketching out a crude outline of an elf. It was how he processed things, Rayla had discovered a while ago. She looked back to the sky and let the conversation die. They drifted into peaceful silence. Callum was busy adding details to the picture and Rayla wanted to rest a hand on him, some kind of physical affection. But no, she would wait to confess. They had a mission and he apparently didn't even understand what love was. For now, she accepted just friendship.

Although she still wasn’t willing to let Callum return home without him understanding the evils of arranged marriages.


End file.
